What Happens That You Have UFOs?

I'm forcing myself to complete a quilt that I started and don't like the mixture of colors. I want to make a quilt for my daughter and am waiting for her to make the time to go with me to get fabric. In the mean time I have fabric to start on a quilt for my mom and I'm going to do that. I'm hoping it doesn't turn into a UFO!

For me, UFOs come from a project that is 1) too hard, 2) too boring, 3) gets pushed out of the way for a higher priority, 4) isn't working the way I want it to.

Right now my major UFO is the very first quilt top I ever made. It was a BOM and for a full size bed. But at the time, I didn't know how to quilt and couldn't imagine spending the money to send it out. Now I know how to quilt, but don't have a full sized bed!!

I also had a 4-month UFO of my shadow trapunto quilt, because it got set aside to do Christmas gifts. Then, rather than pick it up, I started other projects. Oops. It was just really daunting. I'm getting back to it now though.

My bigggest UFO is my list of things I want to do. They aren't started yet.

The biggest thing for me is realizing when a project just isn't going how I want it to. I bag it up and take it to goodwill, or if it is a real disaster (and small) I've been known to trash them.

Why force yourself to makke something you don't like? Time is too precious for me.

Forcing yourself to finish a quilt is okay....it gets done that way. What usually makes my projects turn into UFOs is the need to make a quilt for a special occasion by a certain date. ..or life just gets in the way. I always used to finish a quilt before I'd start another... it was sort of a rule for me. Then, I went back to work. I had to set aside the quilt I was working on at the time. Then, another time I was making a quilt with a friend.... She got hers done but I had to set mine aside. I moved and didn't have the time. I've made every one of my great nieces and nephews a quilt and I have one more to do.... and soon another baby to be born so I'm behind on that one already. So, now I'm not quilting because I broke my arm and everything I have started is staring me in the face...... another month or so till I can do any sewing again. UFOs just happen to me..... can't seem to get back to my old rule about one at a time.

My biggest pile of UFO's come from other people who have started something and never finished. Some of these people are now dead! I found a stack of 20 beautiful blocks in the stash of a former member of the quilt club. The other members of the club had dealt with his stuff for about six months, and now I was told to put it into the dumpster. I couldn't do that, so took it all home. The 20 blocks are now hanging on my living room wall in a lovely wall hanging, and I found a lot of fabric that will make walker and wheelchair bags.

I Quilt, I Nap, I Quilt Some More ... Aaaaah, The Good Life!
I also have an eddres you can use if you need to contact me with questions or suggestions that relate to our community: patricej@quiltingboard.com

I've got a stack of them. I pull one out every now and then and work on it awhile. If I like how it is going, then I keep working on it. Sometimes, I just need to work with different colors. I guess it is a disease.

Events happen! I am time poor, and I refuse to get stressed about quilting so, when the pressure is on in other areas of my life, sewing projects get stalled. That's ok with me actually. I enjoy the process.
I do have one small UFO that is stalled because I didn't prepare it correctly (scaled it down, and made mistakes). As more problems emerge, I learn from them. It will never be right- the blocks will be misaligned and the seam allowance will be too scant in some sections. It may grow up to be a wallhanging. Or it may continue to absorb scraps as they become available! Apart from the thread, it is not costing me anything. I don't charge quilting for my time- it pays me, with calmness and contentment!

UFOs happen for me when I either start something else as a gift or just get overly excited about new fabrics or patterns. Becoming overly ambitious is also a precursor to a project becoming a UFO.

I do have one very long term UFO that was a BOM that I purchased/started back in 2003. It was definitely out of my skill level when I began it and that is one of the things that caused it to become a UFO. Now, though, I definitely have the skills to complete it and it is on the hit list for 2013! Of course, I am seriously contemplating starting another BOM that is all needle turn applique. It is destined to become a UFO. I see it now but sometimes you just have to go ahead and purchase and then work up to it.

One last thing: I found that when I stayed out of the shops, didn't troll quilting websites, including forums, I had alot less UFOs. Now that I have found a place where the interaction is more about information sharing it is not as bad. I've been on other sites, not necessarily pertaining to quilting, but other hobbies, and every week (sometimes every day) someone would post about their 'haul'. YouTube is really bad for that in the handbag and beauty communities. That can create UFOs because everyone loves the rush of planning and starting!

I started a wall hanging for my daughter for a very specific spot in her home. She moved before I got it finished. Her new home does not have a place for it. I hope to get it out in 2013 and see if I can turn it into a baby quilt for charity. It will be an untraditional baby quilt, but I think it will be pretty. I started this about 10 years ago.

I went to a block of the month club at a quilt store. You paid $5.00 the first month, and as long as you came back every month with the completed quilt block, the next block was free. So for $5.00 you got 12 blocks. I enjoyed it, but didn't know what to do with the blocks. However, I need a new cover for my down comforter, and hope to turn these blocks into the cover. That project also got started about 10 years ago.

I purchased fabric for quilts for my twin grandsons when they moved out of their cribs. They are now 8. The pattern I agreed to make involves lots of seam matching, so I've always put easier projects ahead of it. I'm bound and determined to get it started in 2013. I think that I will need to set a goal of a few blocks a week, so that I don't get bored and start doing a poor job.

In 2012 I purchased a panel to make a wall hanging for DH. That will be my first project of 2013.

I made some other sampler blocks when I was just getting started quilting. The quality was fine, but I really didn't like the colors I chose. Those blocks I donated to a quilting group that makes quilts for various charities. They will be put to good use, and I learned a lot making them, so I think it was a win-win project.

I think that's the extent of my quilting UFOs. I did agree today to make matching PJ bottoms for my grands for next Christmas. I've had the fabric for several years, so I guess that might qualify as a UFO.